


Everybody's Changing

by TheEmpressAR



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Cobra Kai (Web Series) RPF, Karate Kid (Movies), Karate Kid (Movies) RPF
Genre: Angst, Emotional Baggage, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, implied rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-04 06:13:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15835410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEmpressAR/pseuds/TheEmpressAR
Summary: How does Ralph feel about all the recent changes in his life since Cobra Kai started?  How does Billy deal with it?Story Song:  Everybody's Changing - Keane





	Everybody's Changing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brihana25](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brihana25/gifts).



> This little plot bunny was out in the cold and I let him hop in on my lap because he wouldn't stop whispering in my ear. I haven't tested my Zacchio waters...but I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm being respectful to wives and RL so I'm not putting them in "sticky situations"...LOL (at least in this story). I tried to get an angsty little fic about Billy's crucifix for Brihana25 who sent this little bunny my way! 
> 
> Hope you all EMPjoy!! Kudos and Comments make me SMILE!!! <3 THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

 

__

_You say you wander your own land_  
_But when I think about it_  
_I don't see how you can_

Ralph looked at the man sitting next to him at the panel table.  Another convention…another city…another go round of the same questions.  He tried not to look bored or disinterested as he glanced briefly down at his cellphone.  Another two hours and they would be back on the road.  He glanced back at Billy.  He was animated.  He was smiling and happily answering another question about “sweeping the leg.”  Ralph could hardly contain the groan that was welling up in his vocal cords.  He felt a brush on his knee.  That was Billy’s way of bringing him out of his reverie and letting him know that “yes again…it’s another question about the damn leg.”  Ralph smiled tiredly and waited for Billy to finish his response. 

He noticed something glinting off of Billy’s shirt.  He had seen in countless times but now it was brighter, reflecting off of the stage lights.  He found himself studying the crucifix necklace and zoning out totally missing a question that was directed at him. 

“Ralphie...” Billy whispered to him. He had given up cringing on the use of that nickname a long time ago.  Billy was the only one allowed to use it anyway.  He snapped out of it, remembering the tail end of the question.  “Crane kick?”

“Yeah how long did it take for you to master that?” 

Ralph went into yet another explanation of how long it took, how he executed it and what it did to Billy’s face…adding that joke in rehearsed and planned as always.  This time he could have sworn he heard the other man groan.  He looked over and Billy had his chin propped up on his hand looking at Ralph with over-exaggerated adoration.  His eyes twinkled mirth behind them and Ralph knew he might be in for another one of his practical jokes after this was over. 

The panel droned on and Ralph forced himself to answer questions about a movie that he made over 30 years ago that he had forgotten a lot of the intricate details of.    He forced himself to answer repetitive questions.  He forced himself to smile through uncomfortable questions. He had once been impressed with the amount of die-hard fans of the movies, but lately he had been feeling the way William Shatner told the group of Trek Geeks on that old Saturday Night Live skit... “Get a life…people…”

 _You're aching, you're breaking_  
_And I can see the pain in your eyes_  
_Says everybody's changing_  
_And I don't know why_

It was a brutal session.  He had endured it all.  The pictures, the signings.  He just wasn’t feeling well.  He hadn’t been feeling well for a while and he couldn’t explain why.  He asked himself for the umpteenth time, why he signed on for this.  He realized he couldn’t do this to Billy…it was important to him.  He remembered the day he got the call.

“So…what do you think?”

Ralph sighed into the phone. 

“Come on, Ralphie…this one’s different. I can feel it.”

“It does have potential.” He conceded. He could almost hear the twinge of desperation in his on-again, off-again friend’s voice.  He had done his usual runs with Billy at the conventions prior to the pitch but they were becoming fewer and farther between.  If he accepted this job, he knew he would be thrown back into the mix.  Thrown back on the road.  Thrown back into work.  Work.  He had thought back over his resume in the brief phone conversation. He had to admit it was looking a little scarce lately.

“Don’t put this one off again, Ralph…please.”  Billy said and Ralph could see him in his mind’s eye gripping his phone tightly. 

“I gotta think about it.”

“Let me take you to lunch.  We’ll catch up…”  Billy’s voice had an edge to it. 

He met him at the airport.  The first thing he saw before he saw the bright blue excitement of Billy’s eyes was the flashing golden crucifix around his neck, glinting in the sunlight.  It brought back floods of memories that he had to physically shake from his head.  He realized that crucifix necklace had been a part of both of their lives and memories throughout the years.  A familiar emblem and representation of a friendship.

Billy bounded off of the plane like an exuberant puppy.  He was excited and ecstatic.  It had been about three years since he had last seen Ralph.  He didn’t hesitate. He ran up and enveloped him a huge bear hug. Ralph tensed.  He had never been one to be as loose and as carefree as the man in front of him.  He attributed it to the different sides of the coast they both grew up on.  He stood stiffly as Billy nearly squeezed the life out of him.

“Hey, buddy!!!”  He clapped him hard on the back.  “Sorry…” He said when Ralph winced as his crucifix poked him in the neck.  Ralph hesitantly put his arms around his friend.  He pat his back softly and pulled away.

“Good to see you, Bill.” 

“What’s with the formalities?”  Billy said looking at him, noting the new wrinkles, the thinner hair.

Ralph looked at him.  He noted that Billy had changed perceptively as well.  He had a few more wrinkles around the eyes and a bit of sagging skin, but he was basically the same fountain of energy he always was.  He watched as he tapped out a cigarette and lit up. 

“So we gonna do this thing?”

  _So little time_  
_Try to understand that I'm_  
_Trying to make a move just to stay in the game_  
_I try to stay awake and remember my name_  
_But everybody's changing and I don't feel the same_

It had been a whirlwind.  Maybe he had to give in and give Billy some long overdue credit.  He had never felt younger.  The lights, the cameras, the interviews, the fame, the nostalgia.  It was back in his face.  It was like becoming addicted all over again.  He craved this.  He hadn’t felt so alive in a very long time.  People were interested in him. 

People wanted him.  He felt some of the old stirrings of being a teen heartthrob.  His face had begun to hurt from over using his smile muscles.  It had felt good to use them again.  Billy was beside him the whole time.  He really had to thank him.  He had to give the man points for making a good decision for both of their futures.  He wasn’t really on board all the way until the director had yelled “Action” on their first scene together. 

Suddenly, it felt like a wave of familiarity settled over his whole mind, body and soul and he was back.  It was like he had never left.  He didn’t want anything to cheapen the experience.  It was embedded into the very fiber of his being.  He wouldn’t make a mockery of this.  He wouldn’t become jaded…he wouldn’t…

\----

“I don’t like the way this scene is being filmed…” 

“What’s wrong with the scene Ralph?”

“I don’t know…it’s just not right.”

“What would make it better for you?”

“Getting me a water would be a start…and where is that script revision?  I’ve been asking for it for over twenty minutes.”  He snapped.  He got up and walked out of the room. 

The writers and Billy looked after him as he stormed away.

“It’s alright guys…he’s got a lot on his mind.”  Billy said apologizing for him.  He twisted the cross on his necklace back into place.  He did that when he was nervous and worried about things.

He found Ralph in the parking lot screaming into his phone.

“When I agreed to do this, it was understood that I was going to be the star…am I wrong in assuming that?” 

“I don’t care what those bastards said…I need this.”

“Yeah…I get it….No…I know…Thirty years he needs some kind of redemption…blah blah blah…this show would be nothing if it wasn’t for me!”  He stabbed at the end button, turning around and seeing Billy standing a few steps away.

“Billy…”

“No…Ralph…I totally understand…look…I’m going to head back and suggest we wrap up for the day.”  He turned without saying another word, leaving Ralph to stare after him. He felt the waves of hurt roll off the man.  Whereas he was reserved and guarded, Billy wore all of his emotions on his sleeve.  He watched as he practically ran away from him to escape from what he had just heard.

“I’m such an asshole.”

 _You're gone from here_  
_Soon you will disappear_  
_Fading into beautiful light_  
_'Cause everybody's changing_  
_And I don't feel right_

“Hey…what are you going to wear to the thing tomorrow?”  Billy said rummaging through his suitcase.

So many hotel rooms, so many nights in the RV…moving from town to town. City to city.  Promoting Cobra Kai.  Promoting their image.  Promoting schmaltz at a price. 

Ralph looked over at him from the full-sized bed where he was stretched out, arms behind his head.  He was trying to get into a “State of Zen”.  He had been worrying himself sick over the past couple of weeks.  Tensions were high on the set.  There wasn’t the easy flow between the two men as there had been before.  Billy spoke mostly through his agent if he wanted to relay something to Ralph.  They rehearsed and went over details of their scenes in stilted silences.  They would talk, go through the motions, but something was definitely off between them.  Ralph knew why.  Billy kept his distance. 

They shared the same hotel rooms.  They shared the same trailers.  They practically shared the same toothbrushes.  It was to cut costs as they had been told. 

Billy tried hard to keep up a good front.  He would plaster on a smile and placate Ralph wherever he could.  But Ralph didn’t want that.  He wanted to apologize.  He had realized he had hurt the man’s feelings, but it was only because of who he was.  Who he _thought_ he was. 

There was an unspoken fact in Hollywood that you were measured by the amount and the quality of your work.  It was just a fact that he had done more.  He couldn’t change the facts and he could justify that his body of work was marginally better than Billy’s.

Flashes of articles popped into his head unbidden:  “Washed up stars of the 80s”…and his face was plastered on the front page.  He groaned and turned away. 

“I don’t care…just wear something blue.” He muttered as Billy pulled out a few casual shirts and a couple of button down.

“Someone piss in your cornflakes again today, Ralphie?”  He frowned and went to hang up his clothes in their dry cleaning bags. 

“Whatsit to you?”

“I don’t know you’ve been a dick since you woke up this morning.”

“Cute…real cute, genius.”  He got up and started moving stuff around in his own suitcase.  They had a dinner meeting that night and an interview with the Today Show the next day.  He pushed past Billy on the way to the tiny bathroom.  He was wearing boxers and a white wife beater. He started shaving and Billy came into the room grabbing his own razor and started lathering up. 

It was out of habit…almost like an odd married couple that they did everything in unison.  It was natural.  Even when they were pissed at each other, it was a familiar routine.  Ralph mused at how easy it was to fall back into those patterns even if they had been apart for years.

“How long we gonna do this, Ralphie?”  He said out of the blue, tapping his razor on the sink.  He watched him from the corner of his eye while he shaved his face. Ralph handed him his aloe. 

“Do what?”

“You know…this.”  Billy said handing it back to Ralph and handing him a towel for his face. 

“We’ve talked about it before. You knew my feelings.”

“Why can’t you just be happy for me…for once?” Billy said leaving the room. 

“Oh, Come on, Billy…that’s bullshit.”  Ralph said stalking after him.

“Is it?” He turned and Ralph’s eyes trailed once again to the crucifix around his neck.  Billy’s shirt was off and he still was well-defined.  Ralph often wondered what magic that gold necklace held between them, and if it was gone, would they be the same people they had always been?  “This was supposed to be about us!”  He said dropping the “tip-toe around Ralph” act.

“I know…it’s just…”

“It’s just what…you want to be the star?  You want to grasp at straws and get some of that teen fangirling pussy thrown in your face again?  You want the money?  Wake up and face the facts _broheim_ …you’re old, you’re married and this is your last hoorah.  You might as well do it with your “best friend” and try and enjoy yourself!”

Ralph clenched his fists and looked impassively at Billy.  “You’ve been jealous of me for years.  It figures you’re only acting out this way because you realize the same. You’re just as old and uh the offers aren’t really coming in...are they buddy? Face it…at least they know my name.”  He couldn’t stop the words falling out of his mouth.  He wished he had clamped a hand over it.  “Billy…god…I’m sorry…I didn’t mean it.” 

Billy looked at him.  His face was pained.  He fingered the necklace around his neck.  He didn’t say another word.  He looked at him until Ralph looked away to the carpet, stubborn and ashamed.

“I quit.”

“What?”

Billy threw on a shirt and jeans and grabbed his pack of cigarettes and cell phone from the bedside table.  He shoved them into his pocket.

“When this season is over.  I’m done.” 

“You can’t…”

“I’m going home.  I miss my wife.  I miss my children.  I miss the people who _care_ about me.

He turned and slammed the door behind him.

Ralph stared after him.  He sunk back down on his bed.  He put a hand to his forehead.  He didn’t know what to think anymore.

 _So little time_  
_Try to understand that I'm_  
_Trying to make a move just to stay in the game_  
_I try to stay awake and remember my name_  
_But everybody's changing and I don't feel the same_

Billy turned to look at the trembling form on the other twin full-sized bed.  It was late, after midnight. It was dark in the room.  He couldn’t see anything but a faint outline of Ralph’s body and hear the hitching of his breath and an occasional sob.  It had been a very long night. 

The dinner meeting was a disaster.  He had decided to sit as far as possible away from Ralph and he only spoke to him when someone asked them both a question. He remembered Ralph trying to catch his eye several times, but Billy didn’t want to look at him. He was still upset and angry over what Ralph had said to him earlier.  He truly believed that was how Ralph felt about him.  All those years of trying to be professional.  Trying to be civil.  Trying to be a friend.  It was all just a fucking joke.  He remembered that the real painful truth of the whole situation was the filming of the “How I Met Your Mother” episodes. 

They were telling each other things then.  He just refused to admit it to himself.  He thought back to his speech of how he kept thousands of headshots in the trunk of his car because no one wanted pictures of the bad guy, only the hero.  How people would throw popcorn at his head and boo him.  He knew he was taking the piss out of himself doing that, but he knew the truth was making itself known…even then.  He’d have to remember to call Neil Patrick Harris and thank him once again for making him feel special…if only for a moment.

He turned his attention back to Ralph. His back was to him, huddled in a fetal position.  _‘You were supposed to be my friend.’_   He thought bitterly.  He heard the other man’s breath hitch again.  “Shit…” He sighed.

“Ralph...” Billy said softly, going over to his bed and shaking his shoulder gently.

“Wh..what?”  Ralph said after a moment, wiping at his eyes. He was facing the wall and didn’t turn over. 

“Ralph...look at me.”

“No…I’d rather not.”  Ralph’s voice was shaky and choked with tears.

Billy sat on the edge of his bed.  He kept his hand on Ralph’s shoulder, rubbing it soothingly.

“You know…you’re right…I’ve always wanted what you had.  For a long time that’s all I thought about.  What if I had taken the role of the ‘good guy’?  What if I didn’t play the bully? I was eighteen years old!  My whole life was ahead of me.  I was branded then.  I was typecast.  I was the bully for life.  I wanted your life.  The little innocent man-child that everyone wanted to be around.  That everyone felt sorry for.  The hero.”

Billy picked at his fingers, looking down at them.  Ralph reached over and turned on the bedside lamp.  He turned to look up at Billy.  In the shadows they both saw each other thirty years younger for a brief second…shifting back into the older men they were now.

“I don’t know where my life would have been if you hadn’t been in it some kind of way.  Our story started with The Karate Kid.  It looks like it’s going to end with it too.” 

“Don’t say that, Billy…”  Ralph said tears on his cheeks.  “I’m just…I just miss my family so much.  I miss my wife and I miss my kids and I miss my friend.  We haven’t talked in weeks…and it’s my fault.”  The bedside lamp glinted the crucifix around Billy’s neck.  It was like a beacon in the darkness of the room.

“It’s not your fault.  It’s all been overwhelming.  But I tell you, it’d be a lot easier if I had a friend by my side and not a stranger.”

“I’m afraid.”  Ralph rolled back over not wanting to look at Billy anymore with the revelation.

“I know.”  Billy said turning out the light and climbing under his covers.

Ralph startled at first but settled back against him.  Billy wrapped his arms around his chest and pulled him close burying his face into his neck. 

“I’m sorry I said those things.  Can we start over?”

“What do you call this, Ralphie?”  Billy laughed into his hair and soon was snoring again. 

Ralph smiled and snuggled back.  It was the best sleep he had had in weeks.

The next morning they stood in the mirror again, shaving faces, brushing teeth, a new outlook on the whole situation.  Ralph was finally at peace.  He promised Billy that he would let go and loosen up and just be happy for once. He looked up from spitting out his toothpaste to see Billy reaching behind his neck and removing his necklace.  Ralph was shocked.  He had toothpaste around his lips and Billy thought he looked as adorable as ever.  He waggled his eyebrows at him the necklace held out in front of him.

“What?” Ralph said wiping the excess toothpaste from his mouth.

“Here’s to new beginnings.” He said coming up behind him and lacing the crucifix around his neck.

“But…Billy…this…” He watched how serious Billy Zabka was in the mirror clicking the clasp into place. He caught his eye in the bathroom mirror.

Ralph fingered the cross reverently and a tear formed again.

“I want you to have it…to remind yourself.  To remember.  To stay grounded.”  He pat Ralph’s shoulder and left the bathroom. 

 

_Another Comic Con…Another City…Another venue.  Not just another friendship.  This time.  This one would be different.  Ralph would never take off the crucifix and Billy would never stop trying._


End file.
